SAP Lumira – Why JAVA Script Compression?

This blog is an extension of my previous blog about enabling JAVA script compression in Business Objects for SAP Design Studio performance. Since Lumira 2.0 is a directly compatible upgrade for SAP Design Studio, JAVA script compression is also applicable for SAP Lumira. In this blog, we will share some information on how JAVA script compression improves the application load time.

For the sake of demonstration, a sample application has been selected and executed with and without JAVA script compression. The application load times for the same have been recorded and following are the inferences:

JAVA Script Compression Disabled

When JAVA script compression is disabled, JS minification won’t happen. So the JS files related to Lumira are bigger in size and take more time to load. Most of the resources needed for Lumira rendering like CSS, JS libraries and images load in parallel over the network. However, if the size of the components is huge, it will take more time to complete the overall application rendering.

Application Profiling Stats

Browser Stats – Load time & Size

Browser Stats – Size of Core Files

JAVA Script Compression Enabled

When JAVA script compression is enabled, JS files will be minified and their size will be reduced. When the size is reduced it take less time to transfer them over the network.

Application Profiling Stats

Browser Stats – Load time & Size

Browser Stats – Size of Core Files

Based on the statistics, the following are the key observations:

From the statistics, it can be observed that the core JS file alone got compressed by 1/4th of its original size. Similarly, other JS files also got compressed which resulted in an overall size reduction from 7.8 MB to 2.3 MB. Even though the server side profiling time is almost similar for both runs, there is a significant improvement in application rendering time due to reduced file size.

As an added information, JAVA script compression is enabled by default in most releases of BI 4.2 and later releases of BI 4.1. However, this parameter might be missing in some systems and might get reverted after system upgrades and patches. So it is recommended to check this after every patch/support pack/upgrade.